THRONGS CHEER BUSH IN PRAGUE

Timothy J. McNulty, Chicago TribuneCHICAGO TRIBUNE

President Bush joined in celebrating Czechoslovakia`s democratic rebirth Saturday as more than 100,000 people cheered and waved American flags on the first anniversary of the peaceful ''velvet revolution.''

Standing with Vaclav Havel, the nation`s playwright-president, Bush spoke in Prague`s Wenceslas Square, the place where only a year ago hundreds of thousands of demonstrators provoked the downfall of one of Eastern Europe`s most repressive Communist regimes.

''As you undertake political and economic reform, know one thing,'' Bush said, referring to new restiveness over Czechoslovakia`s faltering economy.

''America will not fail you in this decisive moment. America will stand with you.''

Although the skies were leaden and a brisk wind swept the square, Bush spoke from a glassed-in booth at the top of the square and savored the applause and the spirit of the crowd.

At the end of his speech, the throng sang ''We Shall Overcome'' in English and then in Czech and they raised their hands giving the two-fingered salute for victory.

Bush`s emotional visit began his eight-day overseas journey that will contrast the new world order in Europe with old world conflict in the Middle East.

Bush referred to the Persian Gulf crisis several times Saturday and compared Iraq`s occupation of Kuwait with the Nazi occupation of

Czechoslovakia at the beginning of World War II.

''There is good and there is evil. And there are sacrifices worth making,'' said Bush, who has been under severe questioning on his policy in the gulf crisis.

The visit also seemed to be a tonic for Bush, who basked in the acclaim in a foreign capital, especially after being battered in recent weeks by criticism of his domestic and foreign agenda.

In his own speech Havel was blunt, referring to the ''rancor and rivalry'' that is consuming the new politics of the nation. But the moralist- leader also held out hope, saying true democracy will come from ''pooling the efforts of many generations.''

''We are here for politics,'' said Petra Bejckova who was clutching a loaf of bread as she recalled going on strike as a high school student a year ago. Her friend, Dalivor Teachrn, 19, waved a large American flag and schoolchildren wore red, white and blue caps.

''There are no leaves on the trees and yet it is Prague Spring,'' Bush said in a reference to the 1968 liberalization that was crushed by Soviet forces. ''There are no flowers in bloom and yet it is Prague Spring. The calendar says Nov. 17-and yet it is Prague Spring.''

Bush also talked with Alexander Dubcek, chairman of the National Assembly, who was the nation`s innovative leader before the Soviet crackdown 22 years ago.

Bush rang a small replica of the Liberty Bell and said he would give the new government a document that he called Czechoslovakia`s ''declaration of independence.'' It is actually a letter, now in the Library of Congress, that the nation`s first president, Tomas Masaryk, drafted in 1918 and sent to President Woodrow Wilson.

The moment and the location of Bush`s speech was significant because the square itself became the crucible for Czechoslovakia`s shackled democracy movement.

One year ago, Communist authorities grudgingly allowed students to march to a cemetery on the outskirts of town to commemorate the killing of a student by the Nazis in 1939.

But afterward the demonstrators turned back toward the central square where a student had been killed by Soviet troops in 1968 and where the following year another student had set himself on fire in protest. Last year`s demonstrators were beaten by police, fueling more demonstrations until the Parliament ended the Communist Party`s monoply on power in late November. Both Bush and Havel laid wreaths at the memorial to the students where passersby often leave votive candles, flowers and photos.

On Sunday, Bush will visit German Chancellor Helmut Kohl for the first time since that nation`s formal reunification.

The president then travels to Paris where he will sign the conventional arms control treaty between NATO nations and the all-but-defunct Warsaw Pact. Then the 34 member nations of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe will begin three days of meetings to formalize the new organization. Bush also will meet with Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev to shore up the international coalition against Iraq`s Saddam Hussein.